Wisconsin native, conservative critic of everything.
"Once abolish the God, and the government becomes the God." ---G K Chesterton
"The only objective of Liberty is Life" --G K Chesterton
"Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions" --G K Chesterton
"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition." -- Rudyard Kipling

Monday, February 11, 2008

The Archdiocesan Legal Team

Whenever it has been sued by victims, the archdiocese has used every hardball legal tactic at its disposal, including blocking access to church records, conducting brutally aggressive depositions of victims, and drawing out cases for years with delaying tactics to attempt to bankrupt victims and their families.

Whenever the archdiocese succeeded in getting a case dismissed on any kind of legal technicality, it would sue the victims and their families for the costs.

Another way to ask the question: now that the Archdiocese has paid out $10 million or so in damages, (not to mention the legal fees) does ANYONE think that the strategy outlined above was worth it?

4 comments:

What makes all of this interesting is that in terms of liturgy and theology, dad and I are about 180 degrees apart but abuse and its coverup isn't a conservative vs. liberal issue.

Yes, even in the best run enterprise, you can always have a bad apple. But the true test is what you do when you discover it.

Not long ago a law enforcement officer here was caught receiving a sexual favor from a young woman whom he was supposed to arrest. He was out the door in about 24 hours. It *can* be done.

The church would have had more credibility had it done the same.

On a personal level, Weakland's pitiful performance was more than just upsetting. In his younger days I considered him a source of inspiration but as time went on he became more insulated and sullen. Maybe this is the reason why.

As we all know the only mechanism we have is in the wallet and I predict, fair or not, that the archdiocesan capital campaign will receive a huge message.

In the real world predators are put on lists with their pictures and their whereabouts known. Other people may look them up and find out who in their zip code is a known predator. That is the least that the church should do for the people victimized by the most trusted members.